The Fox Kid
by Yuni
Summary: A different take on the Naruto storyline. A sixyearold Naruto finds out about Kyuubi, leaves Konoha for a sixyear period and comes back to train properly and pass the Chuunin exams. Will he be able to conceal his secret, or will he lose himself to it? R
1. Chapter 1: Truth and deception

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way possible.

Author: Hey everyone! I know that the idea in this fic is pretty popular and all too common, but lately something's been telling me to just write something, so this is a pilot chapter. If I get more than three constructive reviews by the end of the week, I might just put this up as a regular fanfic. Hope you guys and gals enjoy at least a bit of it.

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Chapter 1: Truth and deception

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_The shadows loomed overhead._

"_Where am I?" asked the little blond boy._

_A scoff was heard in the far reaches of the abyss._

"_Who are you?"_

"_Stupid child! Don't you know? Or are you as simple-minded as you look?" replied the voice._

_A giant kitsune suddenly appeared, making Naruto yelp. That just made it scoff again. It sighed, obviously annoyed._

"_Well, if you MUST know, I'm Kyuubi no Kitsune, the fabled Nine Tails Fox." said the red and white kitsune with a smirk._

_Immense blue eyes grew even wider._

"_I've heard about you! You're the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha! But then the Hokage at the time destroyed you!" replied the excited child._

_That made Kyuubi laugh._

"_You must be sadly mistaken! That baka jan didn't have the strength to destroy me!"_

"_That's not true! The Hokage even told me himself that that's what happened!"_

_That just made the demon laugh even harder._

"_You are just incredibly GULLIBLE! That's not what happened at all! The truth is-"_

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"Naruto! Wake up!" ordered the Hokage.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly as grumbled. His small figure suddenly shot up as he realized that he was lying in his bed in the apartment that was given to him a few months ago.

"Where am I? What happened?"

_The child doesn't remember. How odd…_ thought the elderly man as he sucked on his pipe.

"What do you mean you can't remember?" yelled out a voice.

Naruto turned his head towards the voice and there they were, five smoldering shopkeepers crossing their arms and staying in a perfectly still position while glaring at the six-year-old boy.

"That ruffian destroyed all of my produce!" said an old woman, holding a mass of red pulp. It was only after staring at it for a long time that the young boy realized it was an apple. Or at least, _used_ to be an apple.

"And he broke my magazine racks! Now how will my customers find what they want to read? How am I supposed to pay for my wife's medication?" said an old man with a small spot of white hair that shot straight up.

The three others, who were obviously related because they had the same face shape, walked up in front.

"He destroyed the entrance to our toy store!" said the first one, a tall man with graying hair.

"He also broke all of the windows!" added the second one, a plump balding man.

"Not to mention that he drew on my face!" finally said the last one, a short scrawny man with marker all over his smaller face.

Soon all the five adults were all hollering on the top of their lungs: the three toy makers saying that the boy should be put to jail, the old woman saying that he should pay for all the damages, and the older man saying that he should clean up and restore the shops to their original state.

The Hokage's anger just kept on rising, and rising, until finally…

"_WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTHS?_"

The room suddenly fell silent, the only noise coming from Naruto, who had been blinking in confusion during the old time.

The leader sighed.

"Can't you see that the boy doesn't remember a single thing?"

"He's probably lying-" started the old woman

"I said _silence_."

The elder 'meeped' before shrinking considerably onto herself.

"Now as I was saying," continued the Hokage, letting out a puff of white smoke, "was that Naruto tells me that he doesn't remember and that I believe him. I know the damage is considerable and that all of you are furious that your businesses won't be functional for a while, but at least give the lad the benefit of the doubt and think to yourselves, '_Does Naruto do this regularly_?'"

The five heads shot down and nodded in approval. It was true that the boy was a pain to the neck, but prior experiences showed that the farthest he went to annoy them was to either take a fruit or vegetable and devouring it without paying, mixing up the magazines and leaving action figures on the floor. True that that was annoying, but the boy always came back to either pay, help or receive his punishment with a straight face, for he still had a conscience and felt guilty doing all of those things.

One by one the shopkeepers left the apartment until finally there were only Naruto and the Hokage remaining.

"Domo Arigatou Hokage-sama! You just saved my butt there!" said the blond boy with a huge grin.

"Naruto…" replied the old man with a tired voice.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

The man sighed.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's something that brought all these events that did…"

"Gomen Hokage-sama, but I don't really understand what you mean…"

"Naruto, remember what I told you about the Nine Tails Fox?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That isn't really how the story actually goes. You see-"

"No I don't see…"

"Quiet child, I'm trying to tell you something important here!" said the old man with an angry expression. He regained his composure.

"Gomen, I didn't mean to do that Naruto."

"It's okay, people usually look angry when I'm around…" replied the boy with a sad look in his eyes. That just pulled a few of the Hokage's heart strings, which wasn't that much of a good thing, seeing that he was aging, but I digress.

The little boy's face suddenly lit up.

"I almost forgot! Hokage-sama, I _saw _Kyuubi!"

"What did you just say?" replied the old man after coughing out smoke. How did the child know the youkai's name? It was taboo to say its name in front of the spunky child; for fear that the kitsune would awake inside of him.

Unless it was never asleep to begin with.

"Naruto, what did Kyuubi tell you?"

"Not much. I mean, he was kind of scary and all, and also calling me stupid and gullible. He was about to tell me how he wasn't fully destroyed by the Hokage of the time, but then you woke me up." continued Naruto.

The Hokage let out a huge sigh and slumped forward.

"Naruto, the truth is that what I told is a _lie_."

Naruto blinked in confusion. The Hokage continued.

"Six years ago, Kyuubi wasn't destroyed, as he told you himself. In fact, the Hokage of the time made a deal with the kami, stating that if they gave him the strength to seal Kyuubi into the body of a newborn child, that his village not be harmed and that he himself would be the sacrificial lamb on the altar, to be sure that it would work. A few days later, a child was indeed born. It was brought forth and was donned a seal on its belly. You should know it: it's in the form of a spiral…"

"You mean that…"

"Naruto, Kyuubi was sealed into _your _body all those years ago. It was agreed that no one would speak of it to you; for fear that Kyuubi would awaken inside of you. But now I wonder if he was dormant to begin with. What happened today clearly demonstrated that the youkai could possess your body without your consent and do what he pleases. Today he might have ruined a few shops, but in due time, he might use you to avenge his defeat and take lives."

Naruto's face darkened during his speech. His fists gripped the thin flannel blanket firmly, and the Hokage thought that he saw small tears rolling down the boy's face, so he stood up, straightened his clothing and headed to the door. He shut it after looking back at the little form.

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Days followed each other, and after one week, the old man was worried that not one single shopkeeper had come to file a claim of misconduct in regard of Naruto. In fact, some of them came to his office, wondering where the boy was.

He sent a chuunin, a certain Iruka, who wished to become teacher for the academy more then anything else, to see what was going on. After three hours of searching, the young man came back with only a piece of wrinkled paper and gave it to the Hokage, saying that it was important. He took the paper with his equally wrinkly old hand and read. It was a farewell letter from Naruto, written in his round childish handwriting.

"_Ohayo gozaimas Hokage-san,_

_If you're reading this, it means that I'm gone. Leaving Konoha's probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's my decision. Since I don't have any legal guardians (and I understand why now), I could do what I want, and I want the world to be my oyster ( though I don't really know what that means). I don't know when I'll be back; I just need some time alone._

_Naruto_"

The old man dropped the paper in stupor. Iruka gave a brief salute and left the Hokage to himself.

What could he do? If he warned the villagers, they'd wonder why the boy left to begin with. And that would lead to many sticky situations in regards of the children who didn't understand why they had to shun Naruto out in the first place.

He sighed as he chewed on his pipe. That would mean that this would have to be silenced.

A few days after, people stopped wondering why there wasn't any vandalism of any kind anymore, and just kept on doing what they did every day before and while Naruto was here.

The only person who actually realized that he was gone was a shy young girl with white eyes, but no one actually noticed her either, so that was put aside as well. People just assumed that she was sad over a frivolity that most children at that age were sad about and that every adult had to ignore in order to move on with their daily lives.

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Then one day, as some children were playing in a stream, one of them tripped on something. When adults were warned about it, some ran to the scene and comforted the children as they looked in disgust what the child had tripped on.

The children had found the body of a blond boy in mid-decay.

The funeral was crowded by all the villagers of Konoha, all there to see the proceedings out of courtesy. The white eyed girl was the only one who cried for him.

"Well" said a plump woman in her thirties, "at least he'll be with his parents now."

"A boy that naughty would have never been able to enter heaven." Said her husband, a balding man.

The Hokage sighed heavily, a large puff of smoke dispersing from his mouth.

"I agree that Naruto wasn't the most polite boy of the village, but I'm sure that the gods will forgive him and let him in without a problem. Remember, what he did was just a small series of harmless pranks. Nothing worth being damned eternally for."

Some villagers nodded in agreement.

"If he had actually died that is…" replied the old man to himself as he left the proceedings.

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Author: And voilà! It is done! Remember, give a constructive review that says what needs to improve and what's okay, not the all too common "Oh my god! I love it so much! You have to update soon!" crap. I've become the kind of author of which that just ticks off.


	2. Chapter 2: A new student, an old comrade

Disclaimer: I still haven't found a way to own Naruto, so no, I don't own the series.

Author: Before starting this chapter, I looked at the reviews section. To my surprise, _and_ pleasure, I found that thrice the amount of people I asked as a base had replied. So to thank you, I decided to write a longer chapter. If you notice, I followed some of the tips some of my reviewers gave me, just to prove that I'm open for advice. So enjoy!

And also, to the joy, and disdain, of some of my readers, I plan to make this a NaruHina fic.

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Chapter 2: A new student, an old comrade

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The rising sun shone through the half-shut curtain, hitting Sasuke right in the face. The twelve-year-old boy just glared in pure annoyance at the window for a good two minutes before standing up and opening it properly. He then stretched his body and headed for the small off-white fridge that stood in front of an incredibly bare red wall, opened it, and took out a small bun and a juice bottle. He didn't even bother to sit down at the two-seat table that was sprawled in the middle of the tiny room, and when he was done, threw the litter in the trash while brushing his teeth. After taking a quick shower, he put on a baggy blue turtleneck tee-shirt, white shorts, sandals, tied his headband firmly on his forehead and walked out of the small building in his normal cold demeanor.

That was how Sasuke Uchiha always started off his morning, and he didn't show any signs of changing his ways in the near or distant future. He was one of those cold, distant guys that every girl in class loved and that every guy wanted to be subconsciously. Tall, dark _and_ handsome at a pretty young age, there wasn't a reason to prove otherwise.

"Hey Sasuke-kun! Wait up!"

Sasuke turned around with a half-bored look on his face as he watched a pink-haired girl run towards him.

Sakura Haruno was the brain of the class, having aced all the tests given to her since she entered the Ninja Academy. However, everytime she saw Sasuke, her mind would suddenly drift off of the subject at hand. One very good example was when she had to transform into Iruka-sensei for practice. Yet, the moment she was about to perform the jutsu, the young man caught her attention, so that instead, she transformed into a disproportionate Iruka. Luckily for the girl, the teacher forgave her and gave her a second chance, in which she performed perfectly. But I digress from the story at hand, so let's get back to business.

Sakura blushed slightly when she reached Sasuke. The young man didn't take notice of the change of skin tone of the girl.

"What do you want Sakura?"

"Um, well, I uh, wanted to know if you uh, heard about the news." asked Sakura shyly as she was playing with her fingers.

"I don't particularly follow news; it's a waste of time." replied Sasuke quite bluntly.

The girl would have loved to say to him this particular sentence:

"**_Well hanging out with you is a waste of time too! You don't even talk that much, and when you do, it's only to brush me off you little-_**"

But instead opted for this one:

"Well, the Hokage said in his speech the other night that there was going to be a newcomer to the village. Some of us from the Academy wanted to go see at the village gates. I was wondering if you were coming."

"That's all you have to say?" replied Sasuke coldly.

"But I was just asking if you want-"

"I don't do social gatherings Sakura, you should know that by now."

Sasuke walked away, leaving the girl in shock. Oh the wonderful things she would have loved to say:

"**_Cha! I'll make you eat those words, you fucking idiotic jerk, cha!_**"

Yet she just turned around cooly and headed to the gates in a small trot.

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There were a handful of students waiting at the premises when she arrived.

"Hey Big Forehead! Where's Sasuke? Don't tell me he rejected you! Though I'm glad he did, because I would be shocked if he went with you, you ugly duckling!" said a blond and blue-eyed girl next to her with bandages all over her thighs.

Sakura just cringed and clutched her hands in a tight fist.

"Shut up, Ino! You're one to talk, seeing that he didn't go with you!"

They started glaring at each other, sparks flying out of their eyes.

"Will you two just give it a rest? I'm trying to take a nap here." said a boy lying on a nearby picnic table as he yawned.

"Shikamaru, you're so lazy." replied a rather chubby boy, who was munching away on a bag of rice crackers next to him.

"Oh yeah Choji? You're one to talk about morals. You're the human incarnation of gluttony." said the pony-tailed boy as he eyed the village gates lazily.

Three shadows popped out of the bushes: a boy with excruciatingly long hair and a dog on his head, another boy with small sunglasses and a turtleneck-like coat covering half of his face and a white-eyed girl with a short bob haircut.

"Did we miss anything?" said the first boy as he petted his dog. The dog barked at a squirrel nearby that quickly fled away.

"Nope, and I woke up half an hour early for this." answered Shikamaru as he let out a long yawn.

"Kiba, maybe you should make Akamaru run a little, he seems to be gaining weight." pointed out the second boy to the one named Kiba.

"Hey, I know how to take care of my dog! So butt out of it Shino!" replied the beast boy angrily while he growled.

"N-now guys, let's not get in a fight, okay?" said the white-eyed girl as she stood in the middle of the two boys.

"We don't want to cause a big fuss, r-right?"

Sakura sighed as she closed her eyes, separating herself from Ino, who seemed to still be fixated in beating her in a staring contest.

"Hinata's right, guys. We're here to see the newcomer arrive, and senseless brawl isn't necessary." said the pink-haired girl as she headed towards her purple-haired comrade. Everyone stood, lay and sat in silence.

"Nice going Hinata." said Sakura with a small smile as she tapped her on her shoulder.

Hinata's face started to glow a bright red. Never once had anyone congratulated her for stopping a small argument…

The ground started to rumble a bit.

"Methinks that we should get out of the way soon." said Shino calmly. Everyone agreed and stepped aside, watching as a dozen chuunin surrounding the Hokage walked past them. The old man eyed them all and turned to face them.

"And to what pleasure to I have to see genin at a time like this? Experience has taught me that not a single individual your age would wake up this early on a weekend unless they had something to do, hmm?"

Sakura stepped in front. After a low bow, she explained how all seven wanted to see the newcomer before anyone else.

"But I have to ask, Hokage-sama, who _is_ this guy, or girl?" asked Kiba eagerly.

The old man chuckled.

"Well, it's someone all of you haven't seen in a long time. The individual in question used to live here, until urgent business made him leave. I was lucky to meet _him_ a few years ago, though under some bizarre circumstances."

"W-what kind of circumstances?" asked Hinata shyly.

Before the Hokage could answer, the gate started to slowly open.

_Odd, I was sure it was closed from the inside…_ thought the old man. He eyed the gate and noticed that the lock seemed to have melted. A chuunin went to pick it up from the ground.

"How could that be? None of the children had anything to melt the lock, and even if they did, we would have caught them right in the act…"

The gates kept on opening. The chuunin were on their guard, ready to pull out their weapons if necessary.

When the gate fully opened, the only thing in front of it was a small figure wrapped in a tattered red cloak with the village insignia on the hood. By the looks of it, whoever he was wasn't armed. The Hokage walked past the chuunin and stood in front of the individual.

"So, you came in time." pointed out the Hokage.

"Maybe so, but your lock isn't that high quality, so I could have arrived during the night, without you knowing, Hokage-sama." replied a high, yet raspy, male voice. He snickered.

The voice itself was enough to send shivers in the genins' spines. It sounded so cold and insolent to them. Never once have they heard such a voice. They all thanked the gods for making him decide to arrive on the scheduled time, instead of being in the village at night, when everyone's guard was down. But what shocked them was when he and the Hokage were walking side by side, as if there wasn't any threat emanating from the traveler. He looked at the seven genin with piercing blue eyes. Hinata's grew wider, as if she had seen a ghost, but she said nothing, although she seemed happy and confused at the same time.

"Your apartment has been kept under lock and key." added the Hokage, to which the small figure just nodded.

Silence ruled over the seven of them until Shikamaru said:

"Well, that was a waste of time. I'm going back to bed now."

And all seven of them separated without another word.

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The Hokage finished signing a mountain of forms before paying his undivided attention to the boy seated in front of him. He looked especially uncomfortable in the short sleeved track suit one of the chuunin brought him after taking a bath.

"You've certainly changed Naruto." said the Hokage calmly.

"Time hasn't been too kind to you either, Hokage-sama." replied Naruto as he pushed back a blond spike from his tattooed face.

The old man put down his pen and held his hands together.

"This time you will stay, is that right?" asked the Hokage inquisitively.

Naruto stretched at that moment.

"Yup, that's about right. We've got some business to attend to, mainly appropriate training, exams and such, before I finally take you place, Hokage-sama. Isn't that right Kyuubi?"

The room fell dead silent as red chakra slowly emanated from the boy, taking the form of the nine-tailed fox.

"_That's right kid. We're going to show this village full of fuckers who is the most powerful of them all. With the help you got from me, that should be easy._ " replied the spirit in a resonating voice before disappearing into the child.

"Very well then, I see that you haven't let go of your dream Naruto, and that Kyuubi hasn't lost his lack of manners. Go to the reception hall to get the key, garments, food and money we assembled for you. Class officially starts tomorrow for you." said the elder calmly.

After a small bow, Naruto took out a small sphere-shaped object, threw it onto the ground, and disappeared in a puff of grey smoke.

_Let's hope that they're all ready for you though…_thought the Hokage as he sucked onto his pipe.

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The classroom was bustling with chatter when Sasuke arrived Monday morning.

"Hi Sasuke-kun!" said Ino cheerfully, while Sakura looked in the background angrily at the girl.

Sasuke just ignored her and walked past her.

"Heard the rumors?" said Shikamaru in his lazy tone as the boy took a seat behind him. He just shrugged.

"Turns out the newcomer that just arrived is a new student. From what my dad told me when he came back from the Hokage's Tower last night, the guy's pretty skinny and short, but when he looks at you, bloodlust is written in his sight." added Shikamaru.

"That's creepy." replied Choji as he devoured another bag of cheese puffs.

"Not to mention untrue." added Kiba.

"I mean, when you think murderer, do you think of a scrawny runt? No! you think of a guy who can cream you without a sweat."

"Actually Kiba," said Sakura in a serious tone, "it's written in History books that some of the deadliest assassins in ancient times were small in size and could easily fool everyone, since it was easy for them to infiltrate any given base by dressing up as either a child or a woman."

The door slid open as Iruka-sensei entered the class.

"All right everyone, take your seats, we're going to separate the class into the genin squads. These squads will be made up of three genin, so that your jounin instructor won't go insane, as I have while taking all of you on at the same time." said the teacher with a smirk.

Sakura raised her hands.

"What is it Sakura?" asked Iruka-sensei.

"Iruka-sensei, if you said that the groups are to be made up of three genin, isn't there a problem to that? We're only twenty six students. Does that mean that there are going to be two groups of four? Or maybe one group of five?"

Other students voiced their concern about it as well. Iruka-sensei chuckled.

"Well, if you kids have heard the rumors going around that there's a new student coming to the Academy, and I'm sure you have, then that's not a rumor, but the truth."

Whispers could be heard as the students were wondering how the new kid looked like.

"You can come in now." said Iruka-sensei as he faced the door. It opened, and some of the students were shell shocked at what they saw in front of the class.

He had some pretty strange tattoos on his face and neck, two village insignias tattooed on his cheeks in black and variations of the fire symbol in red all around his neck, but otherwise looked pretty normal, wearing a light black armor shirt and some truly bizarre orange and blue pants that looked like they were three to four sizes too big for him and that were held up by a wide black belt, yet that matched pretty well with his sandals. A brand new genin head band was tied around his forehead tightly, making most of his blond hair spike up, while longer strands flopped downwards, partially covering his face, yet not fully covering his piercing blue eyes.

Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ino and Sakura quickly identified him as the stranger from yesterday morning.

Hinata's facial expression was a mix of happiness, confusion and shock, but no one took notice of it.

"Introduce yourself to the rest of the class." said the teacher after the long moment of silence.

The boy put his hands behind his head.

"Hey, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I used to live here before, but then had to leave for… some stuff. Now I'm back to get proper training, so that I can become the greatest Hokage this village ever had. Nice to meet all of you." said the boy with excitement and a huge grin plastered on his face.

The class just watched him, not knowing how to respond.

0.0'

"Good. You may take your seat now." said Iruka-sensei after another moment of silence.

The boy suddenly vanished and reappeared in a seat between Hinata and Sakura, who was sitting next to Sasuke.

"Whoa! That was fast!" said Sakura as she eyed her new classmate with huge eyes.

_He's faster then me. This Naruto guy isn't like the rest of the group. This could prove to be interesting…_thought Sasuke as he eyed the blond.

Naruto didn't pay too much attention to Sakura's comment and faced Hinata.

"You're Hinata, right?" asked the boy simply.

"What? Oh, y-yes, my name's Hinata. P-pleasure to meet you, Naruto." replied the white-eyed girl shyly while her face was growing a bright red.

"Aw, come on! You can call me Naruto-kun!" said the blond with another big grin.

"A-all right, Naruto-kun." replied Hinata in an even shyer tone before turning around to face the teacher.

"Okay, we're going to proceed to separate the class into the squads. Naruto, since you've never had appropriate training, I'll team you up with the girl on your left, Sakura and Sasuke, the boy on her left. They're two of the best students in the class, and should be able to teach you everything pretty quickly."

"Sure Iruka-sensei." replied Naruto.

Sakura was bubbling with joy. She felt like screaming to the heavens.

"**_Oh, yeah! I'm with Sasuke-kun! We'll be able to spend all the time in the world together, because of Naruto! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!_**" thought Sakura as she clenched her hands together in happiness.

After that, the separation went pretty smoothly: Hinata, Kiba and Shino were put together, as was Shikamaru, Choji and Ino.

The bell rang for lunch.

"Off you go. In the afternoon, you'll meet your jounin instructors." added Iruka-sensei before he left the room.

"So Naruto, do you like ramen?" asked Sakura.

"Do I like ramen? I love the stuff!" replied Naruto merrily.

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The Hokage's office was pretty dark for this time of day. A folder lay neatly in front of him.

"This should be enough to let you in on how Naruto functions." said the old man calmly to the man sitting in front of his desk.

The silver-haired man took one of the folders and opened it, eyeing its contents.

"You're telling me that this boy was responsible for three of the seven intensive fires in the past five years?" said the slim man after handing the folder back to the Hokage.

"Well it really isn't his fault, considering that in the specific period of time, he was feeling a lot of anger and frustration with himself and the kitsune within him." replied the Hokage in a calm tone.

"That's still no reason to just lash out at the world like that." pointed out the jounin.

"I didn't summon you to judge the lad, but to prepare you in what there is to come. Iruka told me that he put him with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. They're two of the best in his class, but I don't think that will help them if Naruto were to unleash some of the youkai's chakra. This is why I'm assigning you to them, Kakashi." said the elder as he sucked on his pipe.

"After all, you do have some time to catch up with you godson, seeing that he's been missing all these years." added the old man with a sly grin.

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Author: It's done! Hallelujah! If you notice, this chapter's like, three to four pages longer then the last chapter. And I just dropped another few bombs in this chappy. I'm sure you readers will be able to find them in here, although they're not as big as that huge one from the last chapter. But oh well, don't forget to give constructive reviews, as always. I took the jokes lightly, but if that happens again, let's just say that heads will fall.


	3. Chapter 3: A few nice long talks

Disclaimer: Let me say it to you this way: if I owned Naruto, I would be filthy rich. But seeing that I'm not filthy rich, I don't own Naruto.

Author: Guess who? Yup, it's me, again. Here to give you another installment (aka chapter) of this fic. Why? Because I love all of you. Aren't I sweet? So here it is, fresh from my computer at home.

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Chapter 3: A few nice long talks at the wrong time

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Naruto patted his belly, obviously in pure content with himself.

"I'm impressed Naruto, I've never seen someone eat so much ramen in one sitting." said Sakura as she eyed the pile of bowls stacked in front of him.

"Well, it's been a while since I've had a decent meal." replied the blond while taking out his wallet to pay the old ramen maker.

"And when was that?" asked Sasuke in an oblivious tone.

"I think it was two, maybe three days ago." replied Naruto.

"Well, that's good. However, it's still alarming how emaciated you look." added Sakura.

"Or maybe it was two or three _weeks_."

His teammates looked at him in shock.

0.0;

"No, maybe two, three _months_."

0.0;;

"Well, all I know is that is was sometime in the past three years…" said Naruto finally.

The author notes that by this time, the sweat drop count was so high that Sakura fell over, Sasuke being strong enough to withstand the weight.

"_Come on kid, you can't remember your last fucking meal?_" asked Kyuubi by their mental link.

"It's not like raw, worm-laden rabbit meat, rock solid acorns and mushrooms that are poisonous to the human body are considered decent meal material. Half of the food I ate could've killed me!" replied Naruto mentally, remembering all of the labor he used to put into looking for food.

"Naruto? Oh Naruto!" said Sakura as she passed her hand in front of his eyes, making him snap out of the conversation he was having with Kyuubi.

"Huh?"

"You've been staring into space for the past five minutes! Are you okay?" asked Sakura with a look of concern on her face.

"Oh! Uh, yeah! I'm perfectly fine! Just thinking about who our new sensei will be!" lied Naruto blatantly.

"Which means we should go now." said the raven haired boy coldly as he got off his stool.

The three genin vanished.

The old man took off his glasses and wiped them.

"I'm getting to old to serve ninja of any rank some ramen. They're too unpredictable…"

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When the bell rang for the students to come into the class, everyone took their seats from this morning.

One by one, jounin would come into the room and call out a squad member's name, to which the squad would take off with the new instructor.

One by one the squads and their jounin left, until only Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke remained.

So they waited for their instructor.

And waited.

And _waited_.

Naruto was growing more insane by the minute.

"I can't take this anymore!!!!" yelled out the boy.

"Naruto! You have to keep your calm!" said Sakura, though she was as annoyed as him as well. Sasuke didn't even flinch.

Finally, the boy got up, walked to the chalk board, took the eraser and took out some bizarre brown goop from his pocket. The smell was so overwhelming, that both Sakura and Sasuke gagged.

"Naruto, what the hell is that?" asked Sakura as she blocked her nose.

"I think it used to be gum, an apple core and mold." replied the boy as he poked the substance a bit before putting it on the eraser, checking if it would hold.

"And what exactly are you going to do with that?" asked Sasuke in a half-bored tone.

Naruto opened the classroom door slightly and placed the eraser at the top of the door.

"It's actually quite simple: the jounin will put his hand to grab hold of the door. While opening it, his head will come in first, to see if we're still here. The minute his head passes the door, bam! The goop is going to fall on his hair! That will teach whoever it is not to be late on such an important day!" replied Naruto while he laughed maniacally.

The others just stared at him in disbelief.

--;

"Naruto, the jounin will see right through it! I'm sure he or she isn't that dense." said Sakura, even if deep inside, she wished that the plan would work out.

A hand grabbed hold of the door, and before long, what Naruto had said came true. Sakura was just shocked that it actually played out exactly as the boy had said.

Oo;

He laughed loudly.

"Hah! Got ya!" said Naruto as he pointed to the jounin defiantly. His expression suddenly melted away when he took the time to look at his sensei's face.

"You…" muttered the boy as he glared at the man angrily.

The silver-haired man took the eraser off of his head and examined the goop.

"First impression? Not much." Simply replied Kakashi as he took the rest of the goop out of his hair.

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The sun shone brightly as the four individuals sat in the middle of the village.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering if you could tell us more about yourself." said Sakura to the quiet adult, while her comrades were either glaring at the instructor, or completely ignoring him.

"What do you mean, Sakura?" replied the instructor calmly as he read his little orange book.

"She means that all we really know about you is your name, rank and your interest in dirty books." added Naruto sharply, before his pink-haired comrade elbowed him in the stomach.

"Well, that's all you really need to know."

oO;

"Now, will any of you have the courtesy of telling me more about yourselves, or can we all just go home?" said Kakashi over his book.

"Fine." replied the three genin in a sheepish tone.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like to read and a –um, certain…boy (at that she blushed violently as she glanced at Sasuke). I dislike pointless lectures and people who aren't themselves. My dream is to become the best kunoichi possible. "

_If she wasn't so obsessed with the Uchiha boy, maybe she would be a worthy genin._ thought Kakashi as he eyed her for a few instants, before looking at the said Uchiha.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like anything in particular. I dislike many things. My dream is more like a goal: that to eliminate a certain person."

_Interesting perspective on this one. Doesn't seem to let that many things get to him._ thought the instructor calmly.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and walking alone in the forest. I dislike waiting for ramen, perverts and sleeping on extremely lumpy surfaces. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen, so that I'll receive the respect I deserve in life."

_He sounds simplistic and determined. Lots of raw material to work on, in other words._ thought the silver-haired man.

_Uzumaki… Where have I heard that name before? It sounds so familiar, I know it. _thought Sakura as she tried to put the name into a category, before giving up.

"Okay, here's tomorrow's schedule: you all come to the clearing not too far from here first thing in the morning, without having eaten any breakfast. I expect all of you to be there." said the jounin in a somewhat monotonous tone, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The three genin were left a bit in awe before they all decided to leave as well.

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The next morning Sakura was up bright and early. As she was getting dressed and brushing her hair, she eyed the pile of scrolls that were stacked next to her door and sighed.

_That's right; I have to give all those scrolls to Naruto. He doesn't live too far away from here, so I don't think that's going to be a problem…_

As soon as she was done, she took out a large backpack and stuffed all the scrolls into it before heading off to his apartment complex. During the small walk, the same question was bothering her over and over again.

_Why can't I remember where I've heard that name? I'm positive that I've heard it before meeting him._

Then it finally hit her. She remembered where and when she heard that name. If so, that would mean-

Finally she stood in front of an old off-white building and opened the door, thus distracting herself. After asking the receptionist the apartment number, she went up a flight of stairs and walked down a bare corridor, where she eventually found it.

The door was slightly open, so she pushed it open some more and slipped in. It was just as she thought: a far off corner was filled up by a growing pile of garbage, and the furniture was dusty. Still, at least the table, floor and refrigerator were pretty clean.

Sakura saw an auburn colored door and headed for it. Before she could open it, however, she heard something strange, not to mention that there was a bizarre translucent orange-colored mist emanating from a small crack.

" _Well kid, what are you going to do? You can't blow off the exam. We've worked too bloody hard for you to just turn around and call it quits._" said a sharp, raspy voice.

"Hey, I know that too! You're not the one who has to go through all the physical stress factors!" whined out Naruto.

Sakura tried to get a closer look and opened the door slightly. A loud crack resonated in the apartment.

"Who's there?" let out a panic-stricken Naruto while he summoned Kyuubi back within his body.

"Ummm…it's me, Sakura." Replied the girl as she opened the door completely.

He straightened out his black shirt. She noticed that he had slept in his clothing, what with all the wrinkles and all.

"Sorry to barge in on you, but I saw that your apartment door was opened…"

"Ah, it's okay! Really!" said the blond as he plastered a huge grin on his face.

"C'mon! Let's get a move on! Leave that stuff over there."

"Oh, okay…"

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The walk was dead silent. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Who are you?" she asked cooly.

"Come again?" replied Naruto.

The wind started to blow harder. Leaves were falling between them.

"Come on, you think that you can just come here to take someone else's name!? that's disrespectful for the dead!"

"Sakura, what are you talking about? My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and it's been that since I was born!" replied the boy angrily.

She scoffed, took his hand and dragged him towards the children's cemetery, a sorry excuse for a burial lot. She pointed towards a small tombstone and read out loud:

"Here lies Naruto Uzumaki, last of the clan's bloodline. Died at the age of six. A boy who lost his way before he could even find it. Try to explain that!"

His face darkened as his fist clenched, drawing a little blood.

"That ass…"

"What?"

"That ass better have a good reason for doing this!"

He turned around sharply and headed to the clearing. Sakura tried to follow, but gave up once he disappeared from her sight and started running towards the clearing by a shortcut.

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Kakashi was reading his book in silence. He was wondering what the others were doing; Sasuke was the only genin present.

Naruto suddenly appeared in a small haze. His eyes were icy blue as he glared at the silver-haired man.

"You asshole. This ends right here, right now!"

Kakashi eyed the blond over his book.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

Sakura finally arrived, huffing and puffing to no tomorrow.

"Naruto, what are you going to do?" she asked between breaths.

Kakashi closed his book and took out two silver bells.

"Okay, here's the exam: two of you have to take a bell away from me before noon. Of course, this means that one of you will undoubtedly fail and be sent straight back to the academy. If you don't take one from me by the end of the day, you'll all fail miserably and head back to the Academy. The exam starts now."

Sakura and Sasuke were a bit set aback, but quickly regained themselves to disappear within the trees. Only Naruto and Kakashi were left.

The boy crouched and lunged towards the jounin. He took out a kunai and threw it towards him.

Kakashi dodged the kunai. Naruto smirked.

"Scorpion Tail Jutsu!" he pulled on the chakra string, making the knife veer towards the adult, all while he was getting closer to him.

The jounin dodged the weapon again, which spurt back in the air to attack him again. The genin flipped over and tried to kick him in the neck.

The two other genin were just watching from their hiding spots.

"Interesting." Said Sasuke in a bored tone from high-up in his tree.

"What is?" asked a puzzled Sakura, who was hiding a few feet lower.

"We're witnessing right now one of the clans of Konoha fight with a kakegenkai that hasn't been seen in a while."

"What?"

"The Uzumaki clan was known as the Animal Tamers for the sole reason that it's fighting style is completely unpredictable and that the techniques that are used make references to all living creatures."

"Which means that he's a true Uzumaki, right?"

"Why wouldn't he be?" asked the black-haired boy.

She bit her lip.

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Meanwhile, the fight was raging on.

Naruto was slowly starting to breathe heavily and wiped off a bit of sweat. The only thing that indicated that Kakashi was having a bit of trouble was the fact that he put his book away and had a few small cuts here and there, but other then that, he was still able to dodge the boy's attacks.

"Naruto, I think we need to talk-"

"No! You had your chance to talk to me six years ago, and you didn't even use it! You just left me all alone, so that you wouldn't take the responsibility of taking care or a child!"

He lunged at him. The jounin gave him a skilled kick and sent him flying towards the water. Naruto back-flipped and landed perfectly on the surface of the lake.

_Well, it's good to know that his chakra control is near flawless_ thought Kakashi, before dodging another myriad of attacks and launching a few of his own.

Sakura was wondering what the hell was going on. Sasuke just kept on watching, analyzing the perfect time to get into the fight.

"Look Naruto, I'm sorry that I was a bad step-parent-"

"Bad doesn't even touch the tip of the iceberg!"

He landed a punch on his sensei. A cloud of smoke suddenly emerged, revealing a log that was broken into thousands of pieces.

Sasuke suddenly appeared.

"Stop hogging the fight, baka!" said the boy cooly before he threw a shuriken towards a mound of dirt.

"Sasuke, _don't_!"

Too late. The shuriken barely touched the mound of dirt when a multitude of strings sprung up, unleashing a multitude of various traps involving shuriken, kunai, scythes and various other sharp metallic weapons.

The Uchiha boy dodged them all easily. Naruto barely had to move to dodge them all.

A scream resonated within the canopy of trees. Sakura fell on her bottom, her limbs visibly cut all over.

Kakashi appeared in a puff of light purple smoke, holding his book.

"Well, while you were having fun, I bought some lunch. However, Sakura, seeing that you just sat there in your tree like a hapless bird, you won't get any. And if I see any of you two try to give her any, you will all fail."

She dragged herself up and glared at him the message that food wasn't her first priority at the moment, taking out a roll of bandages.

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Of course, an hour later she was totally regretting it and clutched her stomach.

Naruto passed her his boten lunch.

"Here, I'm not hungry anyways. I'm still stuffed from yesterday's ramen." He let out a huge grin.

Sakura eyed the lunch.

"I can't accept it-"

"And why not!? Just because some half-blind ass tells us not to feed you, doesn't mean I'm gonna let you starve to death! He's not even here!"

Finally she took the lunch.

Rain clouds started to gather and a large lighting bolt crashed down barely four feet away from them.

Kakashi stood up, staring at them with his one visible eye.

"You three…_pass_. This was all a test to see how you're teamwork was. My previous groups obeyed word for word and failed because they only thought about their own success…" and he babbled on for another hour.

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The sun was setting when Sakura arrived home.

_Argh, today was so freaking confusing…_

She flopped on her bed and started thinking.

_If Naruto is actually alive, then whose tomb is it?_

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Naruto glared at the silver-haired man.

"Okay, now you tell me what the hell went on when I left?"

"It's really quite simple." said Kakashi over his book.

"_Do you understand the importance of what I'm asking you to do?" said the old man calmly as smoke streamed out of his mouth._

"_It's perfectly clear. You want me to stage a murder." Replied Kakashi._

"_Make it look like it was an accident. I don't know, make a clone that looks like the boy and drop it off in a ditch, by the river, anywhere, just as long as it looks like it wasn't done on purpose." Restated the Hokage as he continued to suck on his pipe._

_The jounin sighed._

"_Why exactly am I the one who should do this?"_

"_You're all that Naruto could consider as family, and I want it to remain unknown that he ran away. Besides, you accepted, saying that you clearly had nothing better to do." He smiled wryly._

"_Fine, I'll do it."_

_Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke._

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Author: I'm finally done this freaking chapter! I just got really annoyed with the fact that it kept going on and on and on, so I cut it short. Forgive me if some parts feel rushed, I just snapped and wrote whatever…


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